Civilizations world wide had built their bridges of stone, wood or vegetable fibers until, beginning in 1779, British bridges were being built of wrought and cast iron. The airy grace of these bridges, in contrast to the solid security of a stone bridge, stunned their contemporaries. The distances they could span and their low cost and ease of assembly pointed the way to the structural use of iron in new applications of all kinds. This innovative use of iron provided the infrastructure of the Industrial Revolution. The iron bridges are a tangible marker of the beginning of our own technical age and of the age of transportation and communications.
It was not a coincidence that this revolution in technology and science occurred in Britain. It was one of those rare occasions in the history of civilization when a synergy occurs between various aspects of human endeavor that sparks a chain reaction of creativity and invention. These bridges were made possible by the new methods of processing iron that were developed in Britain during the 18th century. The availability of this “new” cast iron meant bridges of all types could be built economically and with dispatch. In the 1850’s the Bessemer process for making cheap steel made even more ambitious bridges possible. By the turn of the 19th century very few iron bridges were being built.
There are still over 200 of these early iron bridges left throughout the British Isles waiting to be rediscovered. Some have always been celebrated but many are now considered just quaint obstacles to progress. It is my hope that, having learned their remarkable story and knowing where to find them, you will enjoy seeking them out as treasured antecedents of our modern era. Even the most modest of them deserves to be celebrated.